Masked Demon Vessel
by Alban55
Summary: Every year, a festival is held to honor the defeat of the Kyuubi. However, Naruto is excluded from most events in the festival, and is not even allowed to wear the traditional masks that come with it. In fact, all the salesmen seem to ignore him. . . except for a strange, grinning salesman who has just dropped into town. . . with his evil looking mask.
1. The Grinning Salesman

**The poll has been closed, and as you can see, _Masked Demon Vessel _has come out on top. With a whopping 38 as compared to _Condemned at Birth's _26, it has come out in a victory. So without further ado...**

This is the fourth story that I'm starting, and its crossing over Naruto with a series that is very near and dear to me. And that series happens to be the Legend of Zelda series.

In my humble opinion, the Legend of Zelda is the greatest video game series ever created, and it's just asking me to do a crossover. And the game I'm crossing it over with happens to be the darkest and most unique within the entire franchise: Majora's Mask.

So with all that said, let's get started.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or the Legend of Zelda series.

* * *

Chapter 1: The Grinning Salesman

Every year, from October 8th to October 10th, the village of Konohagakure no Sato held its biggest, most renowned, and most wondrous festival, in celebration of the anniversary of the Kyuubi no Youko's defeat.

This three-day festival was one of the things that Konoha was most renowned for, and it attracted salesmen and patrons from all the around the Elemental Countries.

It seemed like everyone had something to gain by being at the festival. Salesmen could come from all over and make a hefty profit on their wares, and the villagers of Konoha could bask in the enjoyment that the festival brought to them.

With that determination in mind, a strange, red-headed man stepped into the village after being checked by the village Chuunin guards. Although they had found several bizarre masks, there was nothing in the pack that could be considered dangerous, as far as they were concerned.

This was the second time the strange man had been to Konoha for the festival, and as a mask salesman he had not been disappointed with the village the first time. The village's masks were something to be beheld, and he had made a fair number of sales that year as well.

As the man walked throughout the village, he attracted many strange stares from its residents. Mothers rushed their children into their house after they pointed at him, and there were several glares and odd looks from the villagers pointed his way.

He was hardly a testament to normalcy in these parts, though. He was wearing very gaudy purple clothes and carried a backpack larger than he was, which had several strange masks strapped to it. The bright red hair and pointed ears set him apart from everyone else, but what really caught everyone's attention was his smile.

It never faded from his face, even slightly, which made it all the more unnerving the longer you looked at it. It looked so out of place as well; the man barely looked human with that smile glued on his face and his squinting, unopened eyes.

Nevertheless, he ignored the odd looks he was getting and kept up his smile as he walked at a leisurely pace throughout the village. Hopefully, he would get to the village square before sundown and begin setting up his shop. The beginning of the festival was in approximately three or so weeks; he had gotten here extra early in order to make a few additional sales before the festival.

He watched a few shinobi jump from roof to roof, and shook his head. In many ways, this world was very strange compared to his own, but in many ways it was far more mundane. There were no Gorons, Zoras, Deku, or any of the other species that made up his world. Not to mention, this world didn't even know about the existence of magic. Yet, they did have something to replace that, the "chakra" as they called it. It was something the salesman didn't really understand.

The salesman looked up into the sky, noticing that it was free of anything... unusual. His grin widened a little bit further at that, and he squinted his eyes even more.

When he got to the main square he was pleasantly surprised. There were only two other mask salesmen who had decided to get to the village early and set up shop. That was a lot less than he had been expected, and it only lessened the competition.

"Excuse me, sir?" he said to a passing civilian. The man looked at his strange garb and creepy face warily, before the salesman spoke again.

"Would you happen to know where I may set up my shop?" he asked politely. The man's face contorted in understanding as he noticed the large pack of masks on his back.

"You here for the festival?" he asked, before he pointed to a large, red building across the square from there.

"That building is the Department of Tourism. They should be able to handle all your questions, concerns, and set you up with a stand. They provide special treatment to those who visit around the time of the festival," he said. The salesman thanked the man and turned to walk away, but the local said one last thing to the saleman's turned back.

"Hope you have a good time. The Kyuubi festival is our pride and joy around the village. Though, I hope your visit isn't soiled by the presence of the demon kid..." he said, before he laughed and walked away, going about his own business.

The saleman's grin faded slightly; he looked at the receding man, before his smile turned into a contemplative frown. His eyes snapped open, revealing angry, bloodshot orbs that stared at the ignorant villager.

As soon as the frown came it had gone, the wicked smile and squinted eyes on the saleman's face once more. He turned back around and began walking at a leisurely pace towards the Department of Tourism.

Three hours later, he had his makeshift stand on display in the village plaza, with the kanji for "Masks" displayed proudly on a billboard right beside it. It was a humble little stand, but it would do quite nicely since it was only temporary. He sat his large backpack right beside himself, and began to unpack some of the masks that would go on display.

He grimaced a little bit as he shuffled through to a mask that had caused him severe problems in the past. And with just how evil and scary it looked, there would be no one willing to take this mask off his hands. It practically screamed "curse".

It was kind of gaudy too, though it really reflected the power that was held within the mask. The display of purple with a little bit of red sprayed in some points all over the mask made it shine with an otherworldly appearance. There were colorful little spikes poking out of the bottom of the mask, with two more at the top, giving the impression of horns.

However, what was most striking of all was the eyes of the mask. Two perfectly round, orange orbs that stared into your soul. They seemed to follow you everywhere you went, but they never moved.

The Happy Mask Salesman had done everything in his power to procure that mask, and when he finally had it, it had caused several problems for him. Besides the fact that it had tried to destroy a whole other world less than a year ago, it always seemed to bring pain and misfortune wherever it went. Though the evil had supposedly vanished from the mask, he always got a strange vibe whenever he looked at it.

Taking that thing out would only hurt his business, so he put the accursed thing back from whence it came. It wouldn't do to put a magical mask on display here; those would only cause panic. So the salesman simply put up some less dangerous, decorative masks that would be sure to sell like hotcakes. The one he put on display near the front one was of his favorites. It was a mask that depicted a mustachioed man in a red cap that had an "M" on it. This model always seemed to sell well.

A few more hours came and went by for the salesman, and the sun was beginning to come down over the horizon. He only sold one mask today, but that was to be expected since the festival was still far away. Maybe he went turn in for the night, or see if he could get a few deals on some new mask models from the other salesmen.

He heard a little bit of yelling come from the center of the village square, noticing a row of about a dozen people shouting at something. Whatever the case, they didn't look very happy.

Curious, the salesman wandered up to the group of villagers, pushing his way into the group to see what these people were apparently crowding around.

They were yelling things such as "demon kid" and "fox demon", and the Happy Mask Salesman didn't know what to think about that. If there was some kind of demon here, wouldn't the village be on alert?

He set his eyes on the target of the villager's ire, a blond boy who couldn't have been older than eleven or twelve. Who at the moment was clearly getting overwhelmed by the amount of vitriol he was getting. A pouty frown was set upon his face, his eyes squinted and somewhat angry as he regarded the villagers.

The salesman was smiling at the moment, but on the inside he was a little bothered as to why the villagers were treating a child this way. Child didn't seem to be the right word though, he looked about the same age as the boy who had saved Termina, perhaps a little bit older.

Whatever the case, the child turned his back from the row of villagers and ran in the opposite direction, over to the other side of the village square.

The salesman watched him go, staring as the boy hid underneath the eves of one of the buildings. He looked so sad and lonely, something that shouldn't exist on a face so young.

The salesman stared for a little longer, before he turned away from the dissolving ruckus and went back towards his stand to clean up for the night.

Thirty minutes later, as he was sweeping the ground around his stand, the salesman heard a loud crash come a building approximately fifty feet away from his stand. It seemed to be a small market from the looks of things, judging from the cloves of garlic that hung in the windowsill.

Tossed through the open door of the store was the same blond-haired boy that had been harassed by the villagers earlier. He was thrown into the dirt like he was less than garbage, and his belongings were tossed out with him a few seconds afterwards.

"You little punk! How dare you try and steal food from my store! If I told you once, I've told you a million times; I don't allow _your kind_ to shop in my market. So take your dirty money and get out of my sight!" said the voice of a fat, bald, bull-faced man as he walked out the front door of the shop. The boy didn't shy away; he screamed obscenities at the man before he took off in full force.

The man shouted something the salesman didn't hear, and from the looks of things the boy didn't hear it either, or he just ignored it, because he never stopped to look back.

Then, as fate would have it, he tripped directly in front of the Happy Mask Salesman's stand. The market owner was still shouting, but he never left his property alone.

The boy grumbled for a bit, wincing as he got over the pain and to his feet. The Happy Mask Salesman stood over the boy, trying to make sure he was alright. Naruto looked over to the right when he saw the shadow looming over him, and took one glance at the squinting, smiling man that was crouching over.

Naruto gasped and scrambled to his feet, shocked at the outlandish appearance of the salesman. The salesman chuckled at the boy, before he walked back behind his stand.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto in an accusatory tone, as if the salesman was one of the villagers who would treat him poorly. The salesman never lost his grin, instead choosing to lean his elbows on the wood and fold his hands together.

He raised an eyebrow when the boy screamed in alarm and got into a peculiar stance. He looked over to his side, and noticed that the boy had his eyes locked on a very outlandish looking bull mask that he had on display. It's dead appearance made it look intimidated, and the war paint and tribal markings on it didn't help one bit. His masks _were_ very foreign to the Konoha villagers after all. It was a melting pot of culture exchange.

"Watch it, I'll kick your ass, jerk. I know some cool jutsu that I will use on you!" he shouted at the mask, which obviously didn't respond to him. The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled some more at the boy's antics.

"Young man, are you a ninja?" he asked.

The boy seemed to take notice of the salesman rather than the bull mask, and he smiled and gave a thumb's up to the foreigner.

"Yeah, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, student of the academy! But someday I'll be a ninja, and not just any ninja. I'll be the greatest Hokage that ever lived!" he shouted passionately. He seemed to forget all about the saleman's previous unnerving appearance.

"Um, who are you? Why do you look so funny?" he asked again. Although he didn't show it, Naruto was also confused as to why the salesman wasn't showing him hatred right now.

"Hmm, you've probably figured out by now that I'm not a local of this village. You may call me the Happy Mask Salesman; I travel all around the world looking for unique and exotic masks to add to my collection, or to sell. I've made it my job to come to this village for the annual Kyuubi festival. I hope to introduce the village of Konoha to my very unique mask collection!" he said.

"Hmm, really?"

The salesman was perplexed at that. The boy had seem somewhat excited to talk to him, to talk to someone that didn't seem to hate him. Yet, near the end of the conversation, Naruto seemed to become a lot more subdued and mellow, almost depressed even. Perhaps there was a much deeper facet to this boy's personality than he let on?

"Have you been to the festival before?" he asked. The Happy Mask Salesman saw the boy's sad eyes, and his face turned into a frown.

"Yes, once before. What's the matter, you live in this village. Shouldn't you have gone to the Kyuubi festival before?" the salesman asked back.

Naruto shook his head.

"No, I'm not allowed to go the festival. I've tried to go to the festival before... and when I do, I always get chased off. I have to barricade myself within my apartment. Usually, the villagers are content to just glare at me around the village... but the Kyuubi festival always brings out something more within them. There's always a thug or two that will beat me up around this time of year. And the other villagers will just ignore me if they see me get into a fight."

The salesman didn't say anything, but was concerned about the boy's well-being. What did this child do to draw the ire of so many of Konoha's villagers?

Naruto turned his attention onto a fox mask which bore a slight resemblance to the Kyuubi itself. The Happy Mask Salesman noticed the boy's curiosity, before he picked up the mask and showed it to him.

"This is a very popular model from where I'm from. It's called a Keaton Mask. They say that whoever wears it may be subject to meeting Keaton himself, and they may receive a reward if they answer his quiz questions correctly," he explained. Naruto seemed to take a particular interest in that mask.

"Though, judging from what I've seen last time, it seems fox masks won't be very welcome at the Kyuubi festival. Most people are just content to wear a mask of a blonde man. He kind of looked like you, if I'm to be honest..."

"That's the Yondaime Hokage! He's the hero who saved this village from the Kyuubi no Youko. It makes sense that people would want to wear masks of him!" Naruto replied.

"Is that so?" The Happy Mask Salesman mused. "_It wouldn't hurt them to put a little creativity in their masks, though..._" he thought to himself, though he would never say that out loud.

Naruto was still staring at him, seemingly waiting for him to say something. An awkward silence arose between the two of them, before the Happy Mask Salesman picked up the Keaton Mask.

"Here. Why don't you take this mask home? I'll give you a little slice of the festival you've been missing out on, free of charge. I hope you'll find it to your liking..." he said, holding out the Keaton Mask to Naruto.

The way Naruto's face lit up made the generous act all worth it, for the boy smiled the brightest and most cheerful smile the mask salesman had seen in a long time.

He picked up the mask, feeling the papier-mâché on the inside of the mask, before he put it over his face. Squinted fox eyes not unlike his own stared back up at him as the boy tested his new appearances.

"Thank you!" the masked boy said happily, before he turned and ran in the opposite direction. Interestingly enough, a few fearful screams could be heard from the villagers. The Happy Mask Salesman smiled; his day just got a little bit better.

The salesman's day at the hotel was as uneventful as usual. Strangely enough, he would look out the window every few hours and stare at the moon... as if he were just _waiting_ for something to happen.

The next day however, held many more surprises for the strange mask salesman. The same boy from yesterday stopped by his stand again, and he looked a little bit worse for wear. His Keaton Mask was nowhere to be seen.

"Heheheheh. I got a little carried away..." he said sheepishly, smiling all the way.

The Happy Mask Salesman looked perplexed.

"...Naruto? What happened to you?" he asked, slightly concerned for the boy's well-being. He looked like he had gotten into a nasty fight with someone.

"Well, since I got a mask I thought it would be a good opportunity to pull a few pranks! But, it turns out it wasn't the best idea to wear a _fox_ mask around the village," he said a little glumly. He tried to make himself seem upbeat, but the Happy Mask Salesman saw through it immediately.

"I should've known better than to wear something like that in the village. A thug from the back alley of my apartment saw my mask, and decided it was a good idea to beat me up..."

"I'm sorry! This was all my fault! I should've realized that fox masks would be taboo in the village!" The Happy Mask Salesman apologized profusely.

"No, don't apologize!" Naruto said frantically, waving his hands out in front of him. He smiled at the Happy Mask Salesman.

"All this time, I thought there was no one who would ever be nice to me other than the old man and Iruka-sensei. But, now I've got someone to add to that list..." he said.

"... Thank you," he said happily.

The Happy Mask Salesman grinned a little wider, at seeing his mission of making people happy getting fulfilled. But, Naruto wasn't done quite yet. He was busy looking at all the strange masks that the salesman had on display in his stand.

"Hey..." he began, as he browsed through the collection.

"Can you tell me a little more about masks?"

* * *

Okay, the first Chapter is done!

Honestly, I have very high hopes for this story, so I hope all of you enjoy it. And don't forget to review, please!

Since this is the first Chapter, it acts as a Prologue of sorts, so it's quite short. I can promise that most of the later Chapters won't be this short. So with all that said, I'll see you next time.

**_Alban55_**


	2. A Song so Healing

**Unorthodox Paradox**: Yes, this story will be using a ton of Zelda concepts, but you don't need to worry about that. I'll do my best to make sure it's readable to anyone who is not very familiar with the Zelda universe.

* * *

Chapter 2: A Song so Healing

The Happy Mask Salesman's grin took a trip north as soon as he had heard those words come from the boy's mouth. "Can you tell me a little more about masks" was the last thing that he had ever expected to hear from this world. Not just from this world; it was the last thing he had expected to hear in any world.

In all honesty, his dream had been to teach the world about his masks and their unique properties. He actually had a shop set up in Hyrule where he loaned out masks to people who would then sell them to an interested party. The seller would pay the scripted amount back to him, and keep whatever profit they earned. By doing this, he had hoped to make his world a little more aware of how his masks worked. However, that had been a bust due to the populace's lack of interest in the field, and the salesman was forced to take on a much more traditional business approach.

Now that Naruto was showing interest, maybe he could make a little more progress towards his dream in this country, rather than in Hyrule. If it wasn't going to come true in Hyrule or in Termina, then he would make the best of it here. Those wide, innocent eyes seemed eager to learn about something as well. He might as well humor the boy.

"Of course I can teach you more about masks, my dear boy. I'm actually glad you asked!" he said excitedly. The salesman was ordinarily a very giddy person, but this was just unprecedented.

The salesman stepped out of his stand, and in his excitement he forcefully placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders. Naruto looked a little uncomfortable at the sudden contact, and he almost backed away from the salesman.

"Child, you have no idea how long I have waited for someone to say those words to me. Please, take a step back into my shop, and I'll show you all I can about the wonders of masks," he exclaimed, trying to appear as welcoming as possible to the young boy.

The salesman led Naruto to the opposite side of the stand, gesturing to a curtain directly behind the counter. It was navy-blue and seemed to be made of a thick fabric, as to obscure whatever was on the other side of it. Naruto just thought it was the back-end of the stand before.

He gave a questioning glance towards the Happy Mask Salesman, and that was all he needed to do. The red-haired man grinned wider, sensing Naruto's confusion, before he placed a hand on the curtain, drawing it to the side.

As it turned out, there was another curtain behind it which apparently served as the back end of the stand, and the space in between acted as a storage room for all the masks which weren't on display at the front desk. The space was only about ten feet in length, but there were two long shelves on either side that were just stacked with all kinds of masks. There were probably around two-hundred of them in total crammed into the small space. More of them were stuffed into the salesman's backpack.

"Wow..." Naruto said in awe, taking in the display. They definitely weren't like the generic masks that he usually saw around the village. Each one had its own unique design, with some rather exotic ones particularly catching his eye.

The salesman sensed his wonder; it really wasn't very often that someone was interested in his masks. Usually, they were intimidated by him, or just distrustful of him. By extension, those same emotions carried to his line of work, especially when they figured out what his masks could do.

"What's this one?" Naruto asked, his eyes drawn to the particularly strange mask. It was pitch-black in color, and it seemed to be made of a stretchy black material. Certain parts of the mask looked like they were spider-webbed, but what stuck out most was the round, red eyes.

"Ah, that would be the All-Night Mask. A very peculiar mask, if you want the opinion of a professional. Besides its bizarre appearance, it has one other strange use. Because you see, this mask here has the power to prevent the wearer from falling asleep. As long as they continue to wear the mask, the user will never, ever fall into slumber," the salesman explained.

"Wait, you mean that these masks are for more than just show?" Naruto asked, his voice suddenly becoming very excited. His face had threatened to split into a wide grin, but the salesman wasn't done talking yet.

"Of course, most of my masks, as well as other masks in my world have a wide variety of uses. The magic that is sealed in them allows the mask to perform a specific function."

"That's so cool! If I could get my hands on even one of these masks, it would surely help me on my way to becoming Hokage..." he said dreamily, before he turned to look back at the All-Night Mask.

"I wish I had this one! If I could prevent myself from falling asleep, I could train so much harder, and grow so much stronger than I am right now," he said, thinking of the pure possibilities.

"Now, don't get ahead of yourself. While it is true that some of these masks could in fact help you on your way to becoming a ninja, several of them have some very unwanted side effects. This mask in particular actually originated as a torture device of insomnia. Even if the mask prevents you from falling asleep, the effects the insomnia will have on your mind and body will not disappear. Wearing this mask is a double-edged sword," the salesman said, his voice becoming far more serious, though he still didn't lose his smile.

Naruto looked disappointed for a second, before he put the mask back on the shelf, next to a red hat and a strange stone-like mask. He looked at those two masks for a second, wondering if they too had a strange effect. When he was done examining them, he turned back towards the salesman, looking a little more disappointed than when he had entered the stand.

"Oh, but don't let something as minor as that disappoint you. Here, let me show you something that I'll think you'll quite like..." With that said, the salesman walked to the back-right corner of the little room, to a section of the shelves that had a few more stashed on them, rather than masks. He shuffled through the small collection, before he picked out the one he wanted.

"A book?" Naruto asked, a little unimpressed. The Happy Mask Salesman turned his grinning face towards the young boy, before he turned back to the book and opened to a specific chapter.

On the first page of the chapter was an illustration, a black-and-white sketch of what appeared to be another type of mask. In the picture, it looked like it was made of a dark wood. There were a few leaves on the mask's head that signified hair, but what stood out the most were the sad little eyes that adorned the mask.

"This is a sketch I drew myself of something called a Deku Mask. This particular mask is in a series called the Transformation Masks, which have very unique properties that separate them from even other masks," he explained.

"Should you put on one of these masks, you will automatically take the full form of whatever race or species the mask represents. The Deku Mask allows the wearer to turn into a Deku Scrub, a common race in the land I am from. Does that make sense?" he asked.

"Hmm, we have something like that here, too. It's called the Henge no Jutsu. Pretty much any ninja can mold chakra and change into whatever shape they want. I don't see the point of going through such a hard process when I can just use the Henge..." Naruto said, not really impressed by the Transformation Masks. The salesman wasn't phased though.

"This Henge no Jutsu... does it allow you to always take the solid body of whatever you're transforming into? Does it allow you to use the same abilities as the one you transform into?"

Naruto's face seemed to light up at that, and he looked at the picture of the Deku Mask with a newfound respect.

"Now that I think about it, it can't. The Henge no Jutsu is just an illusion anyway; it doesn't let me copy jutsu and the transformation can be dispelled just by being hit once. This mask... can it really do those things that the Henge can't? Will it let me use the species' jutsu?" he asked.

The Happy Mask Salesman laughed.

"I don't know about that. Where I come from, there are no species or race that uses anything like a "jutsu". But, they do have many latent abilities that you will be sure to find useful."

"This is a much rarer type of mask, though. I only have about four of them in my entire collection. This particular type of mask requires the soul of the individual who the mask represents to be sealed within its core. Such a thing can only be accomplished through a very particular song. Perhaps I'll teach you the song at a later date."

Naruto was about to say something, but there came a loud ring of a bell from outside the curtain. The Happy Mask Salesman grinned wildly, before he turned to Naruto again.

"Perfect timing. You can watch me as I make a sale, learn a thing or two on how to actually sell the masks," he said, placing one hand on the side of the curtain to draw it back.

"Welcome to the Happy Mask Shop. How may I help you?" he asked in rehearsed ease, as he came across a blonde-haired girl around Naruto's age and her father.

"There are so many weird masks on display! Do we really want to come to this one?" the young blonde girl griped, as she pleaded to her father. The man looked down at his daughter in disapproval, a frown marred on his face.

"Hush, Ino..." he whispered quietly, a frown marring his face. When he was done scolding his daughter, he turned up back to the salesman and set a grin upon his face that was not unlike the one on the red-headed Hylian's.

"I'm so sorry about that. Ino here can get a little bit snooty at times, but I can assure that she's just as excited for the festival as anyone else is..." he explained.

"Don't worry about that, sir. I'm well aware that kids just say some of the damndest things. Was there anything I could do for you, or are you just browsing my collection... Mister..." the salesman said politely.

"I'm not a kid! I'm eleven years old! I go to the ninja academy-!" Ino shouted rudely at the salesman, before she was yet again shushed by her father. She glared up at her parent, before pouting.

"Inoichi. Yamanaka Inoichi. And yes, I was curious as to the masks that you have on display here. The Kyuubi festival is a big tradition in this village, and so are the masks that go along it with. I was hoping to get the jump on them before all the good ones were taken..."

"I don't understand where all these stupid masks come from. If I'm going to wear a mask to the Kyuubi festival, it needs to be something that shows off my hotness! Just a plain old ugly mask won't do..." Ino's voice rang out to them. Inoichi winced at his daughter; she was beginning to get to _that_ age.

"Look, can we just go Daddy... I have homework to do and I don't wanna..._ Naruto?_" Ino incredulously, as her fellow blonde peeked out from behind the curtain.

Naruto glanced at her weirdly, before he perked up and pointed dramatically at her.

"_Ino?_" he shouted.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm just here to pick up a mask with my dad!"

"This guy said he's show me a few things about these cool masks..."

"Pffft, cool... These masks are just ugly!"

Naruto clenched his fists.

"You take that back. These masks are cool, and they'll going to help me become Hokage. I won't let you insult them!" he shouted at her. Ino scoffed at him.

"Oh, there's that Hokage exclamation yet again... Do you really think that a dead-last like you can become Hokage? Much less with some silly little masks that this salesman has. You're even stupider than I thought, you idiot..." she said smugly.

"Who's an idiot..." Naruto whispered, clenching his fists tightly.

"Oh, you didn't hear me? You are an i-di-ot..." she said slowly, annunciating every single syllable before sticking her tongue out at him. Naruto resisted the urge to grab it.

The Happy Mask Salesman held the boy back, and the girl's father scolded her for provoking Naruto so thoughtlessly. Inoichi's mood had been soured by the ordeal.

"Can we just get two Yondaime masks, please? You have those in stock, right?" he asked. The Happy Mask Salesman almost frowned. There was that creepy obsession with the Yondaime again.

"Of course. I always stock a few of those when I come to this village. I'll have them ready in a jiffy..." With that said, the salesman disappeared behind the curtain, leaving Naruto alone with the Yamanakas. Naruto stared at Ino blankly, and the girl picked up on it. She huffed lightly, before she turned away after glaring at Naruto briefly.

"So... Naruto... I hear you're in the academy. How's it treating you?" Inoichi asked awkwardly, grinning weirdly while he said it. Naruto was definitely surprised; it was rare that one of the adults didn't treat him with anything more than intense hatred.

"Oh, yeah. I'm-"

"He's the dead last... and he always will be," Ino said scornfully. She looked at Naruto with little more than contempt, while her father gawked at her. Naruto looked crestfallen.

It was one thing to be called an idiot; he was used to that sort of treatment from his fellow classmates, what with his pranks and the fact that he often got them into trouble as well.

But to say that he would be nothing more than a failure... that hurt far more than it should have. And unfortunately, he was quite used to this sort of statement coming from people.

He placed his hands glumly at his sides, slumping over the stand's wooden counter. He drew a circle on the wood with his finger, his eyes half-lidded and depressed.

Did those masks transform him into a whole other person entirely? If so, could he escape the awful life that God had given to him, could he make it so that he wouldn't be a failure anymore? Would the pain stop after that? He rubbed the bandaged area from where he had gotten beaten up yesterday, thinking about the faces of the thugs that he had to endure. It wasn't the first time that gang had harassed him. There would be more of that on the eve of the Kyuubi festival, though those guys would be everywhere instead of just in the back alley behind his apartment.

A rustling of the curtain brought Naruto out of his reverie, and the smiling salesman returned to the forefront carrying two masks the depicted a heroic looking blonde man. Naruto stared at them intently, wondering just how far he was from the Yondaime's level.

"Thank you..." said Inoichi. "Let's go, Ino..." he said simply. Ino stuck out her tongue one last time at Naruto, but he was too disgruntled to even pay attention to that.

As the two Yamanakas walked away, Naruto stared at him as they donned their masks for a second just to test them out, before he turned back to look at the salesman. There was a bizarre look of longing in his eyes, a look which could only be made by someone who had something important missing from their lives.

"Mister, that song that you talked about which creates masks... Could you teach me it now?" Naruto almost pleaded at the salesman. The Happy Mask Saleman's grin faded to something very soft and sympathetic, before he turned around to look in his massive backpack.

He reached inside and pulled out a very peculiar object, which strangely was not a mask at all. It was a musical instrument, and it looked very foreign from what Naruto could tell. It was a long, reed-like instrument which had multiples buttons on it, with a pipe sticking out in a curve at the end.

He handed the instrument to Naruto, who could tell that it was a little bit heavier than he had anticipated. He took a look at it, touching the reed where he was supposed to blow.

"Play this bassoon for three days to get the hang of it, and then come ask me. It's a very simple song, one that shouldn't take much practice to master, but you still need to get accustomed to the instrument."

Naruto looked flattered at the instrument he now held in his hands, the feel of the wood and the valves on the bassoon. It was the first time someone had given him such a gift.

"That bassoon is made from the special maple wood of the Kokiri Forest from where I hail. It is a very magically intuned one, and is able to cover a wide variety of pitches and tones far beyond the bassoons normal range. It is said that this instrument will only play for a person who severely needs it... Go ahead, give it a try..." he encouraged.

Naruto raised the mouthpiece to his lips, blowing into the instrument forcefully. A resonant tenor sound emerged from the bassoon, echoing with all the sounds of the forest. It almost sounded like the crying of a sad soul.

Naruto smiled down at the instrument, before he smiled up at the salesman. Gone was the cocky, boisterous smile that Naruto had become so well known for, and in its place was a truly happy, grateful smile.

"...Thank you..."

That night, off the top of a certain apartment in Konoha, a haunting melody could be heard to all those who would listen. It started out with a low, sombre timbre, before it changed. It became higher in its pitch, and the tempo would increase until the music almost sounded like laughter.

For Naruto was playing the bassoon off the top of his balcony in the middle of the night. Every five minutes he would pause, look up at the night sky and in particular, the moon. It was a full moon the night he had first gone to play the bassoon, and the soulful music and the quiet night sky always seemed to set his troubles at ease.

During the day, Naruto dropped by the stand on his way home from school, eager to learn more about the mysterious masks that the salesman had in his possession. He had even made a few sales by himself while he was at it.

Three days later, September 20th. Naruto was beginning to get the hang of playing the bassoon, figuring out the tonal difference on what each valve did. It was time for him to return to the stand and learn the song that the salesman had promised him.

Bizarrely, the salesman was waiting for him with an organ of all things. The villagers stared at the bizarre man and glared at the demon child as the two made a strange scene in the middle of the village square.

"I see. Are you ready to learn... Naruto?" the salesman asked quietly. Naruto smiled and nodded.

"Very well, then. This is a melody that heals evil magic and troubled spirits, turning them into the transformation masks I have already told you about. It is a simple melody, but one that is quite soothing. Follow along with me..."

The salesman began to play the organ, creating a beautiful melody that Naruto couldn't even describe. He knew he could play it by ear already, even despite his lack of practice with the bassoon. Without even realizing it, his fingers were moving along the valves of his bassoon, and he was blowing into it trying to reproduce the melody the salesman was creating.

About a dozen villagers gathered around the pair, standing in awe as they watched the salesman and Naruto run through their duet of a very soothing song. However, much of their attention was gathered on the salesman, as soon as they remembered just exactly who was playing the bassoon.

Naruto's confidence fell as he saw that the villager's were neglecting him yet again, and his playing began to suffer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the salesman's backpack resting on top of the stand. A very bizarre mask, even for the Happy Mask Salesman was sitting on top of it. Naruto thought he saw its eyes light up for a second, and he blew more forcefully that he should've into the bassoon.

That mask was evil, he knew it. And, it seemed to be looking at him in particular for whatever reason. His instrument forgotten, the boy continued to stare blankly at the mask.

"-ruto? Naruto! Naruto, are you alright?"

Naruto snapped back to reality, as the salesman was hovering over him in apparent concern. The blonde-haired academy student shook his head of evil thoughts, bringing up his bassoon to play again.

"I think I've gotten the gist of that song, sensei..." he said, adopting the general honorific to the salesman. The salesman didn't realize what that meant or didn't care, but he laughed anyway at the title.

"You certainly did. You played splendidly back there, and we gathered up quite the little audience there with our "performance". But the role of that song has not changed. Use it when you are confronted by troubled spirits; that song will surely ease their woes..."

"And you've been such a good helper to me these past few days that it seems to be such a shame to let you go unrewarded. I'll tell you what, keep that bassoon as a memento, and as a trophy for your frightening progress..."

Naruto beamed at him, but in his mind he could not get the image of the purple mask with glowing orange eyes staring at him from the salesman's backpack. Why would such a nice salesman have something like that anyway?

Later that night, the village of Konoha was treated with a new song as their mysterious musician began to play a new song on the rooftop. It was a very soothing melody, one that had been appropriately named "The Song of Healing".

* * *

Alright everyone, I've finished the second chapter to this.

Quite honestly, I think this is some of the best work I've done in a long time. I just love the way things turned out in the Chapter, and I think I did an overall good job. So please review of course, I would appreciate it. Majora's Mask is a very emotional game, so I wanted to make this a very emotional story.

See you all next time,

**_Alban55_**


	3. Majora's Mask

**Absimilard: **You really need to play the game in order to get it fully, but what basically happens is that the Song of Healing is a song that seals the soul of something into a mask that allows the wearer to transform into that particular person. What the masks are supposed to mean, well, I can't explain that.

**kiddi**: Yes, actually, I do know what a bassoon is. Naruto's instrument is something I spent time mulling over, and I wanted to give him something a little different than Link's ocarina. Its sheer size is one of the reasons why I chose it for Naruto in the first place. Thanks for telling me the exact length, by the way. I knew it was big, but I didn't know _how_ big.

* * *

Chapter 3: Majora's Mask

September 22nd. Two days after Naruto had learned the Song of Healing from the Happy Mask Salesman, and a little more than two weeks before the beginning of the festival. The village was getting more and more prepared for the event, and in the process was getting less and less tolerant with Naruto's presence. It happened pretty much every year, but every time it seemed to get worse. In his earlier years, people were hard-pressed to do more than just glare at him. Nowadays, a few people were beginning to get more brave.

That was hardly the most notable thing about the day, though. It had a much more important meaning for a certain blonde academy student. For today was the day that he would be able to graduate from the academy.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, as a cool breeze blew his curtains astray. A loud thud jolted him to attention, and he looked over at the window to see that the wind had knocked over his bassoon.

Naruto groaned and stumbled over to his window, moving the blinds out of the way as he struggled to pick up the large instrument. It was pretty heavy, but it was one of the few gifts he had ever gotten in his life. He wasn't about to just throw it away.

He had gone back to the mask stand yesterday, but the weight and cumbersome size of the instrument made getting there difficult. It was almost as tall as him after all.

He blew lightly into the reed, realizing that the thing didn't even need to be tuned. The Happy Mask Salesman had mentioned that this was a very special bassoon, so maybe that had something to do with it.

He played a few chords, still getting the hang of how to play it. The only song he had learned was the Song of Healing, a very basic song for something that had such a lovely melody.

He didn't have any kind of case for his instrument yet though, but there was a strap so he could sling the bassoon across his back. The problem was, with an instrument that was almost as tall as he was, it was difficult to keep it from dragging along the floor.

He slung it across his back anyway when he realized that he was running late to class. After locking the door, he quickly took to the roofs of the village. He wouldn't have any time to visit the mask stand or pull any pranks this morning.

He looked up at the Hokage monument... almost like he was yearning for a certain something. He had recently thought of the mother of all pranks, paint-bombing the Hokage monument. But, since he had met the Happy Mask Salesman and gotten his bassoon, he hadn't pranked anyone at all. He hadn't had any time.

He jumped onto the lawn of the academy, his balance a little disoriented from the large instrument that he had strapped to his back. He heard the giant bell ring, and he swore in alarm.

He rushed through the hallways as fast he could, pushing open the door to his particular classroom. He stepped in as cautiously as he could, when he felt eyes on him. He froze in place, but when he noticed that neither Iruka-sensei nor Mizuki-sensei were in the room, he relaxed.

Still, the blank and sometimes cold stares of most of his classmates unnerved him, and he took a seat as quietly as he could next to both Shikamaru and Ino. They stared peculiarly at the instrument that Naruto set on the ground beside him.

"What's going on? Where's Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked Shikamaru, who rose his head from the table.

"They've already started the final tests. They're in that room over there..." Shikamaru pointed at the door to the right of the blackboard.

"They've already called Shino in... but I think we're in for a long period. The test lasts a little more than ten minutes, and there are many students they need to test. It's too troublesome..."

Naruto hummed to himself, a few more minutes later and Shino had emerged from the room. He glanced up at his classmates, who seemed to be eager to hear about his performance. Regardless, the stoic boy said nothing, just adjusting his glasses and walking out of the room without a single word.

"He could at least tell us what the test was like..." Naruto grumbled to himself, before he laid his head on the table. He was in the "U" section, so he would probably be one of the last ones to be called up there. This was practically confirmed as he heard Chouji get called next.

He perked up considerably when he realized something unusual.

"Hey, Shikamaru. Isn't it your birthday today?" he asked. Shikamaru looked at him oddly for a second.

"So what? I don't ever do anything special for my birthday or anything like that... it's just another day for me..." Shikamaru remarked, before laying his head back down to sleep.

"_I wish I was like that..._" Naruto mumbled underneath his breath, so that neither Ino nor Shikamaru could hear him. Ino glared at her childhood friend, like he had said something blasphemous.

"Don't be stupid, Shikamaru. Your birthday is only one day ahead of mine, and when we were kids our parents used to lump them together. We even had those joint parties for a few years, until you said you didn't want one anymore..." Ino piped up.

"Idiot... who would want to have one of those with_ you_..." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes at Ino. The girl in question balled her fists angrily, a vein popping on her forehead. She almost climbed over Naruto to attack the pineapple-haired boy.

She put her foot down on the floor, and slipped on Naruto's bassoon.

She fell face-first...

.

.

... right into Naruto's crotch.

Naruto froze as he felt the blonde-haired girl's face crash right into his lap, right over his sensitive area. His face flushed red, and he shuddered in response to the awkward situation. Shikamaru had backed up a little, an awkward grimace on his face.

The rest of the class laughed uproariously at the expense of both Naruto and Ino. The boy's face became even redder at that fact, but the girl in his lap was bizarrely quiet even as the class laughed at her.

"I didn't know you were into Naruto that way, Ino-pig..." Sakura shouted from two rows ahead of them. Even in the face of goading from her "love rival", Ino still remained quiet.

Naruto bit his lip, and the laughter of the class died out as the atmosphere of the room became very, very cold. The girl on Naruto's lap began to shudder violently, and when she lifted her head, the whole class froze.

On her face was the most twisted, evil visage of anger they had ever seen in their lives. She sneered at all the kids that had laughed at her, and they immediately turned around and put their heads into their books. A few of them were even whistling innocently as they refused to make eye contact with her.

She growled at them forcefully like a wild animal, before she turned back to look at Naruto. Her glare deepened, if that was even possible, and Shikamaru, who was the only one unintimidated, sighed as he knew what was coming next.

"**_Naruto... you.._**_._" she said dangerously, as she cracked her knuckles menacingly. Shikamaru turned away from the scene; he didn't have the heart to watch the whole thing.

Naruto desperately searched to the side, looking for an escape route. When that failed, he held his hands out in front of him, trying to placate the enraged girl in front of him.

"B-But, you were the one who tripped over me..." he said, in an attempt to protest the injustice that was about to descend on him. That statement only made Ino growl louder, and she cracked her knuckles one last time.

The rest of the class sweatdropped as they heard the sounds of what appeared to be animalistic roars followed by a pounding noise and fearful screaming. When all of that was said and done, a bruised and swollen Naruto was sitting in his seat next to angry, yet blushing Ino.

Despite the event, the senseis next door continued to take the testers. Chouji had just finished up his test, to the result of a forehead protector, and now another girl was getting called up.

"Now... what was that about a party?" Naruto piped up bravely. Ino looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"It's my twelfth birthday tomorrow, and of course I'm going to be celebrating it! It's not like I'd invite _you_ or anything, though..." Ino said callously, shrugging her shoulders and turning away.

Naruto slumped down onto the table, a little saddened, but Shikamaru came to his aid.

"Give him a break, Ino... You invite practically everyone in the class to one of those things. God knows I've suffered enough, but you can't just leave out Naruto like that..." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Shikamaru, you..." hissed Ino, after she realized that Shikamaru had caught her. She looked from Naruto over to Shikamaru, who had gone back to laying his head on the desk. Clearly, he wasn't going to be much help.

"Alright, _fine. _You can come... _if_ you pass your Genin exam. I'm not about to allow some failure who couldn't even become a ninja show up at my party," she said.

Naruto frowned; what kind of fucked up logic was that? Ninjas could only befriend other, _talented_ ninja? What kind of unspoken rule was that, where it was a crime to actually be bad at something.

"_Not that I'm a failure..._" Naruto thought to himself. He fiddled with his bassoon, which he was still laying on the floor at the bottom of his desk. An hour later, and it was almost his turn. Shikamaru had already gone and passed, leaving him alone in the back row with Ino.

"Hey, Naruto. What are you doing carrying that thing around?" Ino asked, looking at Naruto's bassoon. Naruto frowned again, before he blew into the reed, making a low baritone sound come out. Ino's eyes widened, as her ears registered the melodious sound that came from the instrument. She never expected someone like Naruto to take up a talent like music.

"It was... a gift. From the salesman I've recently starting working for," he said.

"You mean that creepy looking guy from the plaza? Why would he give you something like that?" she asked. Naruto looked at her in annoyance.

"He's not creepy... he's one of the nicest people I've ever met! Way nicer than any of the people that live in this village," he said, before blowing into the bassoon yet again. Sasuke had gone to take his test now, which meant it was just the two of them in the room. He would be next.

The door opened, and Sasuke strolled out of the room, a Konoha hitai-ate tied to his head. The look of smug arrogance that he usually wore never left his face as he walked from the room.

"Ooh, Sasuke-kun! You're so cool!" Ino squealed, hearts practically appearing in her eyes as she clutched her heart. Naruto shot her an unabashed look, as a voice was within the door called out to him.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto took a deep breath; this was the moment that he was waiting for. He walked through the room only to find both of his senseis sitting at a desk, with a multitude of Konoha hitai-ates lined up in rows along it.

The Bunshin no Jutsu was the thing that would make or break this test. Everything else he could do fine, but that one technique he just never seemed to get a hold of. And to top it all off, it was the first thing tested.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted, putting his hands in the necessary seals and molding his chakra. A puff of smoke materialized, and when it cleared a faded and dead looking clone lay on the ground.

Naruto balked, and Iruka's eye twitched.

"Naruto, you... FAIL!"

Ino raised an eyebrow as Naruto walked out of the testing room without a headband. Without saying a word to her, we walked up the stairs up to her row, and picked up his bassoon without even glancing at her. As he left the room, he started to play this very bizarre melody, a beautiful song that seemed to put all her worries at east and set her heart aflutter. The bassoon's baritone gave it an awfully sombre tone that made Naruto's sadness and disappointment almost palpable. And despite that, Ino couldn't say a single word to him.

* * *

A few minutes later, and Naruto was walking down the main street of Konoha glumly. He raised his head, and he almost smiled when he thought about visiting the salesman's stand, but he thought against it in the end. It wouldn't cheer him up now.

He leaned against the wall of a building, looking at the sky. The moon was out in the daytime, and he almost imagined that he saw a face in the moon, grimacing down at him.

He turned to look to the left, and gasped in alarm. He waved his arms around and tripped over a few buckets of water at his feet. His bassoon fell off of his back and clattered uselessly to the side. There, leaning against the outside of a market stall was the strange mask that he had seen the other day when he received his bassoon.

And its eyes were directed at _him._

The mask didn't move, but to Naruto it looked like the dull orange eyes lit up to become much brighter than they were, and they glowed with sentience. Naruto felt this strange urge come over him, tingling on the edge of every hair and nerve from his head down to his feet. It was something truly primal, and if Naruto was honest with himself, it felt god-like. And not in the holy way.

Suddenly, Naruto's brain was telling him things that weren't his thoughts. A little whisper in the back of his mind was telling him to pick up the mask and wear it, and Naruto could only numbly agree with it.

Naruto clutched the side of his head and shook it, trying to rid himself of the thoughts there were very clearly not his. He squinted his eyes, looking away from the mask, before he collapsed onto the floor in shock.

His head throbbed as he heard shrieking and screaming in his head, and then the voice disappeared completely. Naruto panted in alarm, and he wiped his face when he found a thin layer of perspiration running down.

"_That was weird... what the hell was that?"_ he thought to himself, and his mouth went dry when he took a look back near the market stall where he had seen the mask.

It was gone.

The failed Genin shook his head again, still getting the last of the presence out of his head. He picked up his bassoon, and wondered about the mask. Was he hallucinating? Did he just imagine that the evil-looking mask was there?

He didn't know, so he continued down the street like nothing had happened. He passed back the Happy Mask Salesman's shop, noticing that the familiar Hylian was not there. Probably at another mask stand or out running a different type of errand.

Being a stand, the salesman couldn't really set up any type of security that was at least legal, so all he had to rely on was the good-nature of the villagers not to steal. The salesman's large backpack wasn't there, but there were a wide variety of masks still on display, including-

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, and his heart quickened in panic and fear. There, sitting flatly on the counter of the stall... was the mask that he had seen just a few minutes ago. The one that could seemingly penetrate his thoughts.

All of a sudden, he felt it again. The cold presence in the back of his mind, urging him to do things that he would never consider doing otherwise. Right now, it was like the mask was talking to him.

It was a soft, malicious whisper in the back of his mind, but its tone was strong and commanding.

"_Pick up the mask..._" it hissed, and Naruto shuddered. Despite that, he was compelled to take the mask, _steal_ the mask from pretty much the only person who had ever shown him kindness.

He cupped his hands around the mask, it was oddly smooth. He lifted it up, hiding it underneath his arms as he felt the presence in the back of his mind grow ever stronger.

He managed to ignore it for the time being, but he still ran all the way to his apartment with the mask intact. He fumbled with his keys as he opened the door lightly, like he was afraid of being caught stealing.

He sighed in relief as he entered his apartment, and he placed the mask down on the table. It was ugly to be honest, and Naruto didn't know why he had wanted to pick it up. Still, his mind was screaming at him to keep it, at least for the time being, even if the voice he had heard was now suppressed. It was like the thing had some kind of lasting effect.

Still, Naruto didn't want to hang around that thing. It creeped him out, and he needed an excuse to leave the house anyway. As he shut the door behind him, the mask's orange eyes glowed in the darkened room.

Naruto locked his door frantically, but he looked up when he felt a familiar presence right next to him. His sensei from the academy was standing there, tall and imposing, smiling at him.

"Mizuki-sensei..." he muttered. The silver-haired Chuunin smiled.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. Are you feeling down because you didn't graduate from the academy? Personally, I think you did well enough to warrant passing, but Iruka-sensei is just too strict..." Mizuki shook his head.

Naruto looked down, and didn't say anything.

"Tell you what. I'm going to give you another chance. If you can pass this new test I've designed specifically for you, then I think that's more than enough to let you graduate..."

"Really?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

"Of course. Now, all you have to do is..." Mizuki said, as he explained the test to Naruto. Naruto himself didn't notice the malevolence that was hidden behind his eyes.

* * *

For some inexplicable reason, Naruto brought the mask he had stolen along with him, having stuffed it in a backpack he was carrying along with all of his ninja tools and weapons. It had called out towards him again, penetrating his mind again. He even left his instrument back at home; he figured he wouldn't need it.

He had snuck into the Hokage tower as it had gotten dark and knocked out the Hokage using his Orioke no Jutsu, which had a very strong effect on the dirty old man.

He had taken the Scroll of Sealing after that, just like Mizuki said he should, and was currently hopping through the trees of the forest on all fours looking for his sensei.

He hopped onto the forest floor, holding both the scroll he had stolen from the tower, and the mask he had stolen from the stand earlier. Mizuki should've been here by now. Regardless, Naruto opened the Scroll of Sealing and read the first jutsu on the list, which happened to be...

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu? Damn, why does it start with the one I suck at..." he mused. After that, he put aside the scroll and looked at the strange mask again.

"_Put me on..._ _I can give you incredible power..._" it hissed at him in his head, the smooth, seductive voice enough to tempt any human being. Naruto gulped lightly, drawing his face closer to the mask, and he was just about to attach it to his face, when...

"Naruto," came a smooth voice from up in the trees. "Give me the scroll!" the voice shouted. Naruto looked at the source of the noise, only to see Mizuki standing in the tree, a couple of large shuriken on his back. Gone was the long of usual friendliness; his face now only showed malice.

"_Put me on..._" the voice wasn't in his head any longer; now Naruto swore he had heard the mask talk. But he was too focused on Mizuki to pay attention to it.

"Hey, what's going on? I thought you said I could graduate if I brought the scroll here, and learned this skill from it..." Naruto said, confused.

"_Put me on..._"

"I'm glad I didn't tell anyone about this after all, now I can take my time killing you in peace..." Mizuki muttered underneath his breath, so that Naruto couldn't hear him.

"Naruto, there's no point in you having that scroll that contains many forbidden jutsu, so I'll just tell you the truth now..." Mizuki stated. Naruto cocked his head in confusion.

"The truth?"

"Yeah. You know about the Kyuubi no Youko that was defeated twelve years ago, right. Well, it turns out that the demon fox was _sealed_ into something..." Mizuki began.

"_**Put me on...**_**"**

"Since then, a rule was created that could never be told to you and you alone."

"So, what kind of rule was it?" Naruto asked. He was so, so confused, and he didn't like it at all.

"The rule is that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that _you_ are the demon fox that attacked the village..." Mizuki said maliciously. Naruto's mind then went blank.

He stood there stiffly, his mind desperately trying to register what it was that Mizuki had just said. He couldn't quite believe it himself. And yet, Mizuki continued.

"You are the Kyuubi no Youko... the one that attacked the village, killed Iruka's parents and everything. The reason why everyone hates you is simple. You are the Kyuubi no Youko!" Mizuki shouted at Naruto. Naruto stood there, his mind still numb.

"_It's not true... I'm not a demon fox..."_ his mind eerily worked out that that was the reason why everyone hated him. His mind shattered right there and then, and Naruto emerged at his most vulnerable.

"_It's not true..."_

_"It's not true..."  
_

_"**It's not true..."**  
_

_**"IT'S NOT TRUE!..**." _he practically screamed that last part in his brain. And everything went quiet around him. The sounds of the woods... Mizuki's voice... and even his own breathing. He was completely deaf to them.

"_Put me on..._" Naruto lifted his head, and gasped. There was that voice again.

"-everyone hated you is-"

"_Put me on..." _There it was again; the mask was speaking into his brain. It was tempting him to put it on; it could stop all of this. He knew it; he would prove that he was _not_ a demon fox.

"Iruka is the-" Naruto was blocking out everything Mizuki was saying by now, and he didn't even notice Mizuki winding up to throw the Demon Wind Shuriken at him.

"**PUT ME ON!**" that last one was an inhuman shriek, that clearly came from the mask itself. Naruto clutched at his hair from all the noise, and he let loose an agonized shriek towards the sky.

Who was he? Was he Naruto? Was he the Kyuubi? Was Mizuki a liar, or was he telling the truth? All these questions and more exploded into the confused boy's brain.

He was going through a full-fledged identity crisis.

"**_PUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEON PUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEON PUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEON PUTMEONPUTMEONPUT_ MEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUT MEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUT MEONPUTMEONPUTMEONPUTMEON!"** the mask was shrieking at him constantly now, urging Naruto to wear it in his madness.

"_That mask... can I be someone different?" _

Yes, this mask was the answer to all his problem; he could be a completely different person in the mask. One that wasn't held back by all the hatred of the village.

"_Yeah, that's it..._" he said, even as the mask continued to scream at him. Mizuki was also still talking, but Naruto was still blocking it out completely. With trembling hands, he picked up the gaudy mask. It had a presence.

He shoved the mask onto his face, and almost immediately his body went rigid. He could feel the faint presence that was once in the back of his mind become more lucid, until it was completely there in his thoughts. And its temptations were as strong as ever. Man, Naruto felt _good._

The mental aspect wasn't the only part of this, however. Once he had placed the mask on his face, he had felt... _something._ Something dark and evil, slimy, and yet strangely warm. He felt his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth being invaded by what that certain something... and it was euphoric, like a drug-type of euphoric.

Mizuki stepped back in confusion, as Naruto's body turned at an unnatural angle to face him. Naruto's bones cracked as he forced himself into the unnatural position, but he didn't care.

He twirled the shuriken on his finger, and was suddenly struck by fear as it was not Naruto's face that was staring at him, but the glowing, orange eyes of a mask that covered it.

A high-pitched giggle.

Another one, slightly louder. A cacophony of laughter came from Naruto down below on the forest. Laughter that was sadistic and unnerving, and it was all in a twisted version of Naruto's voice. It sounded like him... and yet... it didn't. It was higher in pitch, like it belonged to a younger boy, and it seemed strangely...

...evil.

Naruto felt happy... and good... and happy. So, so happy. The mask was still screaming things at him, it was influencing him, but Naruto felt so good that he just might listen. He was going to crush Mizuki, tear him limb from limb, and he was going to do it with a wide grin on his face.

The laughter turned into a paralyzing shriek, loud, long, and cruel... one that chilled Mizuki to the bone. It was like nothing human vocal chords could actively reproduce. Mizuki doubted that even a wild creature could make that kind of noise.

"_What is this... thing?" _ he thought. No human could make that kind of noise. It was impossible. Naruto lifted his hand up to his face, and it looked like he was going to attack.

"Don't kid yourself, demon brat!" Mizuki shouted, getting a hold of himself. He threw the Demon Wind Shuriken, and it went whizzing through the air. Naruto didn't lower his hand, or even try to dodge.

His hand just grabbed it, and it nearly cut off his hand. But Naruto was lucky enough to only have his hand be deeply injured. The boy only felt pain for a second, before it was numbed by the intense sensation that was soaring through his body.

He giggled again, and looked at his mangled hand. There was no pain, no damage, no sadness. It was a wonderful thing, like Naruto had never experienced before.

Using his injured hand, he reached up to his face, to behind the mask that he was wearing. A disgusting squelching noise emanated from _something_ that was underneath, and Mizuki's jaw dropped, and his bloodshot eyes widened as Naruto _pulled_ something out from underneath the mask.

It was a tendril, several feet in length. Red in color, and pulsating like some engorged blood vessel. It had to have been coiled up so tightly in order to fit in that mask. Naruto shuddered, it was cold and slimy to the touch, yet it tingled with power. He held it out in front of him, and laughed again.

"M-M-Monster!" Mizuki yelled, his voice blubbering. He took off into the trees, running faster than he had ever ran before. He _had _get away from... that... that... he couldn't call it a demon anymore. That _thing_.

Naruto wasn't phased in the slightest. He laughed, and he swung the tendril he had in his hand like a whip. Miraculously, the whip extended as he swung it, wrapping itself around the frightened Chuunin's ankle.

"No!" Mizuki cried, as Naruto pumped energy through the tendril, almost frying Mizuki. The shock was of something far too alien to be chakra; it was something Mizuki didn't recognize.

Naruto shrieked and howled in delight as he swung the whip upward and smashed Mizuki into the ground. A sickening crunch emanated from Mizuki as his shoulder broke on impact, and he lay there uselessly.

Naruto squealed, as he thrashed Mizuki by whipping the tendril at a lightning-fast speed, lashing Mizuki across the back several times. It was fun, Naruto enjoyed it. He let go of the tendril, and like it had a mind of its own, it slithered back underneath the mask.

Naruto moved forward menacingly, eyes on the defeated Chuunin.

"Okay, I-I'll give you something! Money, jutsu from the scroll, I'll even let you graduate right here, right now! What is it you want, Naruto?" Mizuki cried, begging for mercy. Naruto guffawed.

"**What do I** **want**?" he asked rhetorically. The voice would send shivers down even the most hardened shinobi's spine. It was like Naruto's voice, but there was a much more sinister, child-like voice overlapping it. It gave the persona that there were two presences there now.

"**I want to rip you to shreds. I want** **to destroy you!"** he exclaimed. Naruto cackled disturbingly as he picked up the Chuunin with strength no twelve-year old should have. He dropped Mizuki on the ground roughly, before he thrust his hands brutally into Mizuki's torso.

Those stubby little fingers managed to turn into deadly weapons, because Naruto's strength had increased tenfold, allowing him the capability to bury his hands into another human body.

He panted as he practically performed excavation work on Mizuki's body, using his hands to rip out pieces of Mizuki's flesh. Mizuki had died early into this process, a look of horror forever plastered on his face.

He continued to bore into the body like after Mizuki had died, digging his hands through the corpse. But then, as he noticed the look on Mizuki's face, the euphoria simply... stopped.

The mask screamed at him in its bizarre voice, clearly displeased by Naruto's display of resistance. Naruto clutched his head in anguish, as he realized what he had done.

Forget killing someone, that was just brutality. Sadism, at its lowest...

He placed his hands on the edge of the mask he was wearing, and his emotions were a turbulent cascade. The intense, addictive euphoria was still gnawing away at him, but he had just made his first kill, and _enjoyed_ it at that.

Two polar opposite emotions fought for dominance, but ultimately Naruto tugged at the mask attached to his face. He pulled and pulled, and cried out in alarm as the mask seemed to have a grip on his face. The dark, evil things that were under his skin now felt like just that: dark and evil. They wanted to take over his mind. No pleasure was being derived from those. Harder, and the mask became loose. He was forcing the dark, evil things out, and with a snap, the mask flew off of his face as he applied enough force, and he fell back, panting.

He felt his face; he was drenched in sweat, from head to toe. His lip quivered, and he continued to clutch at his hair. He had murdered someone brutally back there, and he was just coming to the realization now. The mask... it still lay over there, and Naruto was avoiding it like it was contagious.

Naruto looked over, afraid that it would jump up and attach to him again. He had already gotten a taste of its power, and of the control that it had over him. And yet, he knew well enough that it had been him to do those actions. He consciously remembered them, vividly. He warily backed away from it, and Mizuki's corpse, before he took off running as fast he could to the village, eager to get away from the mask.

* * *

Sweet jesus, this was fun to write. I know this scene is played out quite commonly in Naruto fanfiction, where Naruto gains an alternative power rather than the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. But, I don't think it has been often where the power is truly a double-edged sword.

In all honesty, I'm thinking of changing the second genre of this. Adventure will definitely stay, but Fantasy doesn't exactly describe what I want this story to be. I'm think either Suspense or Tragedy.

Well, please review.

**Translations and Other Features**

Bunshin no Jutsu: Clone Technique

Kage Bunshin no jutsu: Shadow Clone Technique


	4. Bassoonist on the Roof

Ah, here's the next Chapter. Okay, I have a little something to discuss right now. If you look at the complete picture of this story, you could break it into three parts. Now, I'm not going to do anything like split this into separate stories: that would be annoying. But, I might put a Roman Numeral in the chapter selection to signify which part it is. What do you think?

How about we play a game, everyone? A guessing game actually, which is related to the Legend of Zelda. There is one particular game in this series that I absolutely do not like. Which do you think it is? Take your pick, and I'll tell you next chapter opening. Here's a hint; I would probably end up getting screamed at a lot if I admitted I didn't like this game.

* * *

Chapter 4: Bassoonist on the Roof

As the boy took off, the evil mask that had nearly taken over Naruto's mind lay there on the forest floor, silent and unmoving.

At first glance, it looked like the presence had vanished from the mask. There was a period of time where it just seemed like an ordinary mask, if not a little creepy. Several minutes after the forest had been abandoned, however, the eyes once again glowed a bright orange...

* * *

The streets of Konoha were desolate at this time of night.

No one was out on the streets except for a few Chuunin guards who were patrolling the gates to the village, making sure that no unauthorized personnel entered the vicinity. The street lights had gone off hours ago, and there were little to no shops open at this time of night.

Therefore, it would've been an unusual sight to see an eleven-year old blond boy rushing into the village from the eastern forest right outside Konoha, looking very shaken up by something.

One of his hands was being held limp across his chest, and looking closer at it, it was practically mangled, and if he was unlucky he'd never be able to use that hand ever again.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Naruto, there was no one out on the street to see him in such a panicked state. The infamous prankster and demon kid of Konoha would never allow anyone to see him in such a state.

He would look across his shoulder every so often, as if he were looking back to see if someone was following him. Well, that or _something_.

His arrival at the Hokage tower couldn't have come soon enough for the shaken boy. Not even bothering to knock, he barged right into the hallway, trying to make a beeline to wherever the Hokage would be.

His heart pounding in his ears, he made his way down the maze-like hallway that was the interior of the Hokage mansion. He came across a small bloodstain on the floor, and Naruto recalled that this must be the place where Naruto used the Orioke no Jutsu on the Hokage.

Well, if he wasn't where he had left him in a practically comatose state, there was only one other place he could really be. He continued down the hallway, noting in relief that there were no guards or anything around, and barged into the Hokage's office.

He took in a breath when he realized that the Sandaime _was_ in fact in his office, his back turned to Naruto. He seemed to be trying to plug up his still bleeding nostrils with little bits of tissue, and failing tremendously.

Naruto shut the door awkwardly behind him. He would've been a little guilty that he had "knocked out" the Hokage and stolen the Scroll of Sealing, but the mask kept popping into the back of his mind, forcing his guilt aside.

"Naruto-kun?"

The chair swiveled around, and the Sandaime looked upon Naruto for the first time since he entered the room. He noted the lack of a scroll upon his back, but his eyes were also drawn to his damaged hand.

"Uh... hi, Hokage-jii-chan..."

Sarutobi didn't say anything for a moment, but he took a long, drawn-out puff of his pipe. He normally wouldn't be up this late working, but with the recent incident, he was forced to send out shinobi to look for Naruto.

He set his pipe down and folded his arms, staring at Naruto.

"I hope you realize the weight of what you have done, Naruto-kun..." he began, his voice stern. Naruto looked down at the ground, but he wasn't paying attention to the fact that the Sandaime was lecturing him.

"Normally, if you were a ninja, at best case scenario you would have your status revoked. Worst case scenario, you would be branded a traitor. However, considering you are an academy student, none of those punishments can be handed out. Besides that, we have some new information regarding the incident..." the Hokage continued.

"According to the ANBU, we have detected that Mizuki went missing at the time the scroll was stolen. A search of his apartment revealed information that he was planning to steal the Scroll of Sealing. Were you being used by Mizuki?" Sarutobi asked, folding his hands.

Naruto turned to the side. That was all Sarutobi needed to know.

"I see. And what happened to Mizuki?" The fact that the scroll itself was gone put unease in Sarutobi's mind.

"...He's dead," Naruto whispered.

That seemed to throw the Hokage for a loop. He didn't expect Naruto, the dead-last academy student, to be able to defeat a well-trained Chuunin. It didn't make any sense. Then again, he might not have all the information on what happened there.

Still, the pieces made sense. It was unusual for Naruto to be so reserved, but the first kill is a bad experience for everyone, including a usually hyperactive prankster.

"Were you the one who defeated him?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto nodded solemnly.

"I see... Normally, you would be punished, as betraying the village is a heavy crime. However, things have come to light that you have been used by your sensei, who is the real perpetrator behind these events. You will not be punished. Rather..."

"Tonight, you have done a great service to the village, Naruto. You have defeated a traitor and prevented the Scroll of Sealing from falling into enemy hands. You deserve to be rewarded, instead..."

Naruto perked up at that, as the Hokage opened up a drawer in his desk and pulled out a hitai-ate.

"Jii-chan, is that...?" he asked, as the forehead protector got tossed to him.

"Not every academy student can defeat a fully trained Chuunin, and not every academy student has done such a great service for the village. Such skills show that you are more than worthy to bear the mark of Konoha. In others words, you pass..." he said, allowing himself a soft smile at Naruto.

Despite the fact that he just killed someone for the first time only hours earlier, and the fact that he just learned about the fox, Naruto couldn't suppress a grin from splitting onto his face, as he clutched the mark of a Konoha shinobi in his hand.

"Yes! Yes! Thank you, Jii-chan!"

Sarutobi smiled softly at the boy; he really was just a victim of the circumstances.

After a few minutes of excited jumping, the boy settled down slightly, but he kept his mouth shut. There were two more things that were on his mind that put a damper on his excitement, but he didn't know if he should discuss it with the Hokage.

First was the Kyuubi. Mizuki had told him all about the Nine-Tails sealed with him, and all of a sudden the hatred of the villagers made a lot more sense to him. That wasn't the biggest concern on Naruto's mind, however.

No, second, and more importantly was the odd mask that had almost taken control of him and tempted him to do horrible, horrible things to Mizuki. Until the day he died, he would not forget that presence in the back of his mind, screaming at him.

"Is there something wrong, Naruto-kun? You know you can always come to me with problems, and I'll gladly listen..." Sarutobi told him, and Naruto smiled warily.

"Nothing's wrong, Jii-chan! I'm just a little excited about graduating!" Naruto lied, he began to back away slowly, subtly making his way to the door. The Hokage noticed this, but didn't say anything.

"Your genin orientation is tomorrow. Be sure to be there on time..." the Hokage added, hoping to stir some sort of opening up from Naruto. Unfortunately, Naruto did no such thing, turning around and opening the door, nodding surprisingly politely and stepping out.

The Hokage took a puff of his pipe; Naruto was too reserved. Normally he would be bouncing off the walls at that news. It was understandable when he thought that he had committed a crime and had made his first kill, but there was still something off.

What had happened there?

The Hokage didn't have an answer to that question, but something was bothering him. A horrible feeling settled in Sarutobi's stomach, and he got the impression that he would regret the decision to allow Naruto to roam around free.

He just couldn't shake the feeling that something was _off_ about Naruto.

* * *

Naruto wandered around the streets in the middle of the night, finding his way back to his apartment. Main Street was still deserted at this time of night, but something was still setting him on edge.

Why? This was because he was entering the village plaza, right where the Happy Mask Salesman's stand was set up. It was deserted right now, but the area still gave him chills. That mask had come from _there_. It had been in the salesman's possession, and he didn't know why or how he had gotten such a thing.

Now that he had been exposed to the mask, the Happy Mask Salesman didn't seem so friendly anymore. The grin that was always plastered on his face entered his mind's eye, and it looked creepier than ever.

He shouldn't have taken it anyway, but the thing had _compelled_ him to. It was like the mask was alive.

Naruto shook his head free of thoughts; the stand was empty except for masks, and the one mask he knew to be alive was left abandoned on the forest floor, and it couldn't move...

Definitely...

"_As far as you know..._" an annoying little voice in the back of Naruto's head kept reminding him, and he forced himself to be rid of those thoughts. It wasn't here.

It... wasn't. He was free of its control.

Naruto bit his lip, and then randomly darted down the street, making a beeline to his apartment. He threw open the door, rushing to the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror.

A vibrant, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy stared back at him. At least the stress of the night's events hadn't taken a toll on his physical appearance, but the same couldn't be said for his mental state.

After wrapping his injured hand, he walked into his bedroom, placing his forehead protector on the table. That was the only good thing that had come out of the night, the fact that he had graduated. He allowed himself a small bit of happiness at that.

To get his mind off things, he reached over the other side of the bed, towards his bassoon. But before long he realized that he couldn't possibly play it with his injured hand. Frustrated, he fell back onto his bed, allowing his drowsiness to overtake him.

* * *

He saw the center plaza of Konoha.

He felt something attach itself to his face, constricting his breathing.

He heard himself cry in alarm, trying to get it off.

He saw the Happy Mask Salesman, grinning in delight.

He saw himself, thrusting his hand through Hokage-jii-chan and Iruka-sensei.

He heard himself, laughing in triumph over their dead bodies.

He felt euphoria.

He saw the village burn.

He saw the moon, coming closer and closer, a grimacing face upon it.

He saw the mask, eyes glowing...

* * *

Naruto awoke, screaming. He sat up in his bed, putting his hand to his face. It was matted with sweat, and it looked like it was the same way underneath his shirt. He shook his head free of the nightmare, noticing that it was morning in the village.

He shivered at the dream; it was remarkably realistic. He held his injured hand up to his face, noting with numbness that it was almost completely healed already, a testament to his healing ability. At least he'd be able to play his bassoon today.

A sinking feeling settled in his stomach though, and he left his bed to walk into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, biting his lip as he took in his reflection.

The stress of the day before had definitely affected him now. There were enormous bags underneath his eyes, but whether from lack of restful sleep or otherwise he didn't know. His hair was losing its usual golden color, and was instead now a dull color, his spikes losing a bit of their gravity-defying nature. Even his skin was almost a clammy grey, and when he touched himself he was cold.

Come to think of it, he just felt cold. All of him.

The mask and its power kept entering his head, too. He even had a dream about last night, and ever since he couldn't stop thinking about what it could do! It was crazy.

He shoved the mask to the back of his mind, because today was the day of his orientation. He would find out what team he was on, and he would be able to begin missions.

He picked up his hitai-ate off of his nightstand, ditching his goggles and tying it in its new spot. With a quick glance in the corner, he grabbed his bassoon, it being just about the only thing that could set him at ease right now.

* * *

"What are you doing here, Naruto? This meeting is only for those who passed..." Shikamaru said when Naruto had arrived to the classroom, laying down at a desk.

"Hey! Can't you at least see my forehead protector?" Naruto said back, with a little less energy than what his classmates were used to. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Naruto's haggard appearance and lack of energy, but other than that shrugged it off. Maybe he was just sick or something.

Shikamaru went to sit next to Ino, away from Naruto, who was down near the front row. His bassoon was leaning against the desk between his legs, keeping it in place.

Iruka was at his desk in the front, looking at some papers, which were apparently the teams for these future Genin. Naruto pretended to pay attention as Iruka began rattling off names.

"Okay... next is Team 7. Uzumaki Naruto..." Naruto perked up when his name was called.

"Nara Shikamaru..." Shikamaru perked up a little bit when his name was called, but it was mostly to sigh when he learned that he was in the same group as Naruto.

"And Yamanaka Ino..." Ino rose from her seat quick as a flash, stuttering for words as she pointed from Naruto, to Shikamaru, back to herself as she realized who her teammates were.

"W-What? W-Why?" she managed to get out. Iruka ignored her pointedly, as Naruto slumped in his seat. He had hoped that he would've been on the same team as Sakura, but apparently it wasn't meant to be.

Iruka rattled off a couple more teams as Naruto stopped paying attention.

"And now, Team 10. Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Akimichi Chouji..." Iruka finished, as Sasuke remained stoic, while Sakura jumped for joy and flashed Ino a triumphant smirk.

Ino growled.

"Got it, now that you are all in your teams, take this time to get to know each other. Your senseis will be here to pick you up in this very classroom in approximately two hours... That is all..." Iruka said, as he dismissed himself from the room.

All around Naruto, new Genin began to mingle with each other, most of the time teams that were trying to get to know each other better. Naruto got out of his seat, walking back to where his two teammates were sitting. Shikamaru looked at him neutrally, while Ino seemed to be a little bit angry with him.

"Uh... hi, guys?" he asked tentatively. Shikamaru laid his head down on his desk, nodding at Naruto to take a seat.

"Take a seat. It's gonna be a while..." he said. Naruto took a seat in between both of his teammates, and an awkward silence befell the three of them, even with the resounding chatter of the room.

"So, uh, happy birthday, Ino..." Naruto said tentatively. Shikamaru looked at Naruto and raised an eyebrow, while Ino once again huffed in annoyance at Naruto.

"Just so you know... I'm still not inviting you or anything, even if you did graduate..." Ino said stiffly, and Shikamaru sighed. They were all supposed to be ninja now, and yet both of his teammates were still getting hung up over childish things? Then again, they were eleven, just turning twelve in Ino's case, so they could be forgiven at least somewhat.

"I didn't even want to go in the first place..." Naruto muttered back, turning his head to Ino.

Two hours of intense silence passed for Team 7, without anyone really talking or anything. They didn't even break for lunch or anything like that, because they all knew it would just be a waste of time.

The allotted time of two hours came and went, and they ended up waiting more than two more hours for their sensei to show up. The door slid open, and silver-haired Jounin who _didn't_ have an eraser fall on his head walked into the room.

Even so, he walked up to the front of the class, examining the only three Genin left in the classroom. He touched his chin, giving them an eye smile, before he said.

"Hmm... my first impression of you guys... is..." he trailed off.

"I hate you..."

The three Genin face-faulted.

* * *

Naruto thought about the meeting with his sensei as he made his way home that evening. It had been... interesting to say the least. He had told them to introduce themselves, followed by what they liked, disliked, and their dreams for the future.

After that, he had told them that they were to undergo survival training tomorrow, with a 66% chance of failure. If they failed, they would be sent back to the academy.

They had all gotten a little worked up after that, with a nervous feeling still in Naruto's gut. He had finally managed to pass with so much effort; he wasn't going to let it all go to waste now!

He opened the door to his apartment, flipping on the lights as he entered the kitchen.

And then, he noticed a very familiar object resting on the table.

He gave out an alarmed cry as he backed away from the mask as if it were a poisonous snake, going so far back that he bumped into the back wall of another room, staring at the mask like it would move any second.

"You! How'd you get here? Why do you keep following me?" Naruto asked the mask frantically.

The mask said nothing. It didn't even enter his mind with dark, dangerous thoughts. It didn't compel Naruto. Rather, it was completely silent, like there was no presence in the mask at all.

Naruto gasped for breath, trying to control his breathing. His heartbeat was very, very quick, and it seemed like even the tiniest little thing would set him off and into a panic attack.

He turned his back on the mask slowly, half-expecting it to just jump onto his body when he wasn't paying attention. He wouldn't be gullible enough for that; he knew what it was capable of.

"I know what you're up to!" he shouted again, at the mask. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He rushed up to the table, taking the mask in his hands before tossing it straight out the window. The mask sailed into the street, nearly three houses over, before it finally came to rest near a trash can.

Naruto slammed the window shut so hard it almost broke the glass. He collapsed onto the floor, catching his breath and trying to slow it down. That was awful; the mask didn't even do anything, and he lost it completely. Was he going insane?

He needed it... needed _something_ to calm his nerves in the meantime, get his mind off tomorrow's test, and more importantly, the mask. His bassoon had fallen to the ground while that little incident happened, and he stared at it longingly.

He walked over to the kitchen table and picked up the musical instrument, blowing into it lightly. He played a few scales, noting that he was getting slightly better with it, even if he still any knew one song.

He couldn't play it here though... he needed the right... atmosphere.

He stepped onto the balcony, feeling the chilly autumn breeze wash over him. That also served to calm his frayed nerves, and he blew into the bassoon one last time. This was just like his playing session from a few nights ago, staring at the moon on his balcony playing a bassoon.

His mind on the mask, he put the reed to his mouth and began to play his heart out...

* * *

All her friends were here to celebrate her birthday, and for that she was thankful. She had even put her differences aside with Sakura for just one day, and let them act as if they were old friends again.

She walked her house, making sure her guests were happy and mingling. So far that seemed to be true; it was already an hour into the party and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"And she's such a bitch... do you even realize what she wears to class every day?"

That was Sakura's voice, and she seemed to be talking in a hushed whisper to two other girls. Ino's ears perked up at the voices, and she casually picked up that the other girl's were agreeing with her.

"Pssh, what a blonde bimbo. She's never win the heart of Sasuke-kun if she continues to be such a bitch..." another girl perked up, once again to voices of agreement.

Ino's heart sunk at that. She was one of only two blondes in her entire class, and was in fact the only one who was a girl. They couldn't be talking about another girl; it had to be her. Plus, she didn't know of another blonde who was interested in Sasuke.

Ino bit her bottom lip, feeling a little hurt by those words. It wasn't she much the insults themselves; she had fairly thick skin when it came to those, but it was the fact that they would gossip so rudely about her behind her back.

Suddenly, she became much more paranoid about all the chatter that was going on while she stood there, in shock. What if they were talking about her, behind her back? Like Sakura and those other girls were doing?

"Ino, what's wrong?" Chouji asked, coming up to her, a bunch of party refreshments clutched in his hand. Ino stared at him, considering pouring out what just happened to the fat boy, but she shook her head.

"Nothing... I just need a moment to myself..." she said, stepping away from the confused Chouji. She opened her front door, casually noting that no one was paying attention. Her parents were in the kitchen, so they wouldn't notice her leave.

Quietly, she slipped out the door.

As soon as she shut the door behind her, she sighed and sat down on her front porch, thinking about things. Why was it that they wanted to gossip about her like that? Sakura at least was somewhat understandable; they were rivals and enemies, so she would want to throw mud on her. But what about the others? She thought she had been on good terms with everyone in her class.

And why was she getting so worked up over what Sakura thought?

The noises of the party filled her ears, so she decided to go for a walk. She took off down the street at a leisurely pace, sighing to herself as she let herself meander aimlessly around the village.

A bizarre tune picked up on the wind and whistled through her ear canals, and Ino was left wondering what the noise was. Maybe it was just the wind or something?

Yet as she continued to walk down the street, the noise grew louder, and Ino finally understood what it was... music. Someone was playing an intensely beautiful melody somewhere around here, and from the sounds of things she was getting closer.

It was a strange song. It put all her troubles at ease, and suddenly the memory of the party felt like it was from years ago. Her mind was numbed to the music, and she wanted to find out where it was coming from.

She looked at when she saw a figure on a balcony, looking at the moon and blowing into a bassoon. Ino rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but when she focused on the figure, she gasped.

Short stature, blonde hair, and an orange jumpsuit. Uzumaki Naruto was the one playing the bassoon upon the rooftop. She remembered that he had been carrying around one for the last few days, but she didn't think he could actually play.

Naruto finished up his solo piece, going into another round with what seemed to be the same exact song. Had he been practicing this song up there for quite a while? Ino let the notes wash over her, this time getting the full blast of the melody. It was in fact a beautiful song, and the low timbre of the bassoon gave it great justice. There was almost a mystical quality to it.

Ino was disappointed when it seemed that that would be all Naruto played for the night. He leaned over the balcony for a few minutes, before he looked up and stared at the moon. When that was over, he picked up his bassoon and headed in for the night.

Ino shook her head from the experience, and chased after him. She knocked on the door to Naruto's apartment, subconsciously moving a loose strand of hair out of her face. The door creaked open slowly, and when Naruto saw who it was, his face fell.

"Oh, what do _you _want?" he practically hissed at her.

Ino was taken aback by how hostile Naruto's tone was. Usually he was hyperactive and at the very least happy, but this Naruto was a far cry than the one she had witnessed. While he had looked a little off earlier, and was in fact low on energy, he wasn't very cranky towards anyone. But now his moodiness washed off of him in waves.

"Oh, hi, Naruto, I was just in the neighborhood, and I..."

Naruto glared at her; he really wasn't in the mood for this shit.

Especially with _her,_ of all people.

"I heard you play..." she blurted out suddenly. Naruto's face turned beet red really fast, and he shoved his bassoon out of sight as he covered his blushing face with his hands. Ino stifled a giggle.

"Is there anything you wanted?" he said, embarrassed.

"I, well, things weren't going well at my party... can I come in?" she asked, moving to walk into his house. Naruto blocked the way.

"No, you definitely can't come in!" he said a little forcefully, stunning Ino.

"Why would I want to talk to you? We may be on the same team, but you don't want anything to do with me. Over the last few days, you hit me for something that wasn't my fault, singled me out and excluded me alone when it came to your friends, and have just been an extreme bitch to me over the years. And now I'm just supposed to be nice to you? Until you get your priorities straight and apologize, I don't want to talk to you or see your face. Good night!" he finished, before slamming the door in her face.

Ino stood there in the doorway, stunned. Naruto was never that eloquent, yet he had just delivered a straight up verbal beatdown to her that she couldn't counter. She stood there dumbly for a moment, before she sat down on the steps leading up to Naruto's apartment.

* * *

Naruto put his back to the door as he slammed it in Ino's face.

He felt a little better after that, but his issues with Ino were only the icing on a shit sundae. Playing the bassoon had helped him calm down a little, but he still had a volatile temper and mood right about now, and he was going to lash out at anything in sight.

He laid down on his bed; tomorrow was the test with their sensei, and he needed to be at his best. If he was like his current self tomorrow, things would turn bad, and fast...

* * *

Okay, and we're done.

Not too bad, I'd say. Just tell me what think, alright! I worked extra hard on this chapter, though with this story in general I work a lot harder on my chapters. That's why this update took forever.

See ya.


End file.
